Scene flashes to zone 1 before cutting to other zones

Creator's Corner Directing Help & Tips
1

I don’t know why but every time I do a cut to zone 2 or 3 scene, the scene flashes to zone 1 and then cuts to the zone I indicted.
Here’s what I have:

INT. NIGHTCLUB BAR - NIGHT
@WYNDELL faces left
@EX 1 faces right
@WYNDELL stands screen center in zone 1 AND WYNDELL is idle AND WYNDELL faces left
@EX 1 stands screen left in zone 1 AND EX 1 faces right
@cut to zone 3
NARRATOR
Three weeks later…
@pause for 1
@pan to zone 1
@EX 1 is talk_happy_smile
@WYNDELL is talk_happy_agree
@pause for 3

2

That is because all the actions above the @cut to zone 3 are happening before and the script is waiting for those actions to finish before doing another. To cut to the zone 3 you need to do it like this:

INT. NIGHTCLUB BAR - NIGHT
&WYNDELL faces left
&EX 1 faces right
&WYNDELL stands screen center in zone 1 AND WYNDELL is idle AND WYNDELL faces left
&EX 1 stands screen left in zone 1 AND EX 1 faces right
@cut to zone 3
NARRATOR
Three weeks later…
@pause for 1
@pan to zone 1
@EX 1 is talk_happy_smile
@WYNDELL is talk_happy_agree
@pause for 3

When you use & instead of @ the action will be done even without blocking the rest of the script.

1 Like
3

Hello @Wynmoon, this is Sydney the Moderator!

Topic moved to Directing Helps and Tips since it involves coding/scripting. :wink: